Sports Illustrated, perhaps trying to get back in his good graces after a bit of a rip-job last year, features Thornhill phenom Andrew Wiggins on its front cover and feature story hitting newsstands this week. The piece highlighted a proverbial Jayhawks torch being passed down to Wiggins from Wilt Chamberlain, the best player in school history and Danny Manning, who led Kansas to the 1988 national championship before going No. 1 overall in the NBA draft.

Though author Luke Winn attempted to downplay the comparison angle of the piece, saying it instead just looks at three different elite freshman arriving in three different eras, the hype is off the charts for Wiggins to duplicate those feats.

Wiggins, born in Vaughan to former NBAer Mitchell Wiggins and ex-Canadian track star Marita Payne-Wiggins, chose Kansas in a somewhat surprising decision, with Kentucky and Florida State expected to be the favourites to land him.

Wiggins is considered the top player in the best draft class since the star-studded, LeBron James-led 2003 crop.

The U.S. national high school player of the year recently became the first freshman ever named to the pre-season All-Big 12 team.

Milt Newton, the new general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, has a unique perspective on the buzz surrounding Wiggins and the Jayhawks since he played with Manning at Kansas, including on the 1988 title-winner.

Because NBA personnel are barred from talking directly about draft-eligible players, Newton was careful not to refer to him specifically, but it was clear the proud Jayhawks alum is pleased Wiggins chose Kansas and made the school the most talked about NCAA program around.

Not that Kansas has been struggling or anything. The team went 31-6 last year and won the Big 12 for the ninth season in a row and has one of the best coaches in basketball in Bill Self.

“It’s a tradition at Kansas to have really great basketball teams and really great basketball talent. If I’m, not mistaken, I think we’re third in all-time victories and that counts for a lot right now in regards to the consistency of the type of players who have come through the program,” Newton said Wednesday before his Wolves took on the Raptors.

“It’s always good to land top recruits, that’s what college basketball and the elite programs are about. To get that prospect is like a feather in your cap because it helps you get other top prospects.”

That echoed what Self had said at Kansas media day.

“We’ve recruited a lot of good players but we haven’t really had a ton of success recruiting the top three or four players in their respective classes in the country,” Self said on Kansas’ media day.

“He obviously has that distinction.”

Newton said the fact Self landed Wiggins wasn’t as stunning to him as it was to others.

“I’m not surprised at anything the University of Kansas does. If you ever go to a game and see the opening credits, if you go to a game there, you’ll probably sign on the dotted line (right) after you see that. You get on campus and see how you’re treated. Winning helps.”

Newton said there was a lot of hype back around Manning back when they were teammates, but says the spotlight has intensified significantly since.

“Danny got a lot of hype, but at the same time, that hype was put into perspective. We had a really good team and so, there was still seniors and juniors that got a lot of publicity because they had proven themselves over those two or three years that they were at the university (prior).”

That’s not the case this time around as none of Kansas’ 2012-13 starters are back.

Yet, the team is considered a Final Four favourite with Wiggins expected to lead the way.

Newton is impressed with the crop of Canadian standouts currently making waves in the NCAA and NBA.

“What it shows is that there are great basketball players everywhere,” said the former USA Basketball exec.

“It’s a global game and Canada has always had really good players, maybe not necessarily (getting) the publicity, but with players like that coming down and playing stateside representing Canada in a great way, now it’s really starting to pick up. Little Canadian kids see that and start maybe playing basketball at an early age instead of hockey.”

Canadian Andrew Wiggins makes the cover of Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated, perhaps trying to get back in his good graces after a bit of a rip-job last year, features Thornhill phenom Andrew Wiggins on its front cover and feature story hitting newsstands this week. The piece highlighted a proverbial Jayhawks torch being passed down to Wiggins from Wilt Chamberlain, the best player in school history and Danny Manning, who led Kansas to the 1988 national championship before going No. 1 overall in the NBA draft.

Though author Luke Winn attempted to downplay the comparison angle of the piece, saying it instead just looks at three different elite freshman arriving in three different eras, the hype is off the charts for Wiggins to duplicate those feats.

Wiggins, born in Vaughan to former NBAer Mitchell Wiggins and ex-Canadian track star Marita Payne-Wiggins, chose Kansas in a somewhat surprising decision, with Kentucky and Florida State expected to be the favourites to land him.